Because exploration is in the human DNA. We seek to push out further, see and learn about new places, and further our understanding. Your question is like asking “why did explorers sail ships across the Atlantic when they had a perfectly good continent already?” At first, the new world was just “Europe but worse”, or the various islands of the Pacific were just “Asia but worse” - humans have always felt the need to explore and see what’s around every corner.

Sure, the Moon and Mars may be boring compared to all the sights on earth, but space exploration starts somewhere. Just like sailing the ocean, you start with learning how to build a boat that can cross a lake or river; you don’t start by building an ocean liner.

I have this same plushie and am horrified by this image

Where on earth are you going with this. You’re replying as if I somehow think nobody should have kids. Nowhere did I say or even imply that, no did I denigrate those that choose to. I simply refuted that those who choose not to are leeches simply by their lack of offspring. That’s a dumb statement. No society on earth has everyone reproducing; that has never and will never be a thing. There are other ways to contribute to the collective good, and society as a whole that have nothing to do with having children. Yes, people need to reproduce for our species to succeed, and I respect those who choose to do so. That doesn’t make them superior though, and calling me a leech for choosing not to is asinine.

You’re assuming I’m not making provisions for myself and will be reliant on the system of taxes for my wellbeing. A declining population is only a problem when the entire system is in shambles. There is more than enough money and resources for every person on this earth to live comfortably; we’re just busy throwing away food and spending wealth and resources bombing each other and preventing “unworthy” people from accessing basic necessities.

Don’t come at me as if I’m some child hating monster who thinks all parents are bad. I replied because you called me a leech for having the audacity to choose differently than you. I respect parents for the tough job they’ve taken on, especially in this day and age, but that doesn’t somehow make you superior. It takes a village, and not everyone in the village needs to reproduce to make it successful. Get off your high horse.

Leeches? You’re kidding right? I pay into the taxes which fund your child’s schools, WIC, libraries, Medicare and all of the other things which children benefit from, that I do not, because I do NOT have children. I’m the opposite of a leech, I contribute more and use less than most parents. You need people like me contributing monetarily, socially, and culturally and not using all of the services to make it all work. I’m not going to shit on people who have kids, because as you said we all make choices, but don’t for a second think you’re somehow superior because you made a different choice than me.

I just looked after my neighbor’s cats and they gave me a card with a lovely thank you note and a door dash gift card. Totally wasn’t expecting it but it was sweet. Maybe something like that?

You don’t necessarily need to take it away, there are other avenues of punishment. Detention, Saturday school, no extra-curricular participation, suspension, etc. I was in high school right as dumb cell phones started to become a thing and those were our punishments if we were caught with phones out. We were allowed to have them, but they had to be either off or on silent, and in our bags (same as CD/MP3 players.) We were allowed to have them out to check them only during lunch and before and after school, or if we had to make a call, in the main office. I completely agree that kids shouldn’t be using phones AT ALL during class time, but there’s ways to allow them to exist and punish inappropriate usage that doesn’t require teachers taking them. Teachers shouldn’t be taking phones, that’s a liability risk and not worth the effort.

Choose your battles. Not everything is worth the energy.

Wow, an actually unpopular opinion. You get an upvote ya psycho

They’ve been doing it for businesses for decades so this isn’t really surprising honestly

Bartlet.

My husband wanted a special German stew this week and I went to price out chuck roast for it and it was $10/lb! It would cost us $20 in meat to make a pot of simple freakin stew. Round wasn’t even cheaper either! I quickly decided we weren’t having that stew right now. The price of beef is insane. Beef roast and stew was the poor meal when I was growing up - the thing my parents made to stretch the budget because you just buy a super cheap cut and cook it all day to make it edible, along with cheap veggies. Now those meals are damn near a delicacy considering the cost of the meat. Chicken isn’t much better either at the moment. Grocery shopping has become exhausting.

Hard disagree. In winter we have cozy warm clothing, crisp dry air to breathe, beautiful blankets of snow, houses lit up with decorative lights at night, and most importantly significantly less bugs! I love hiking and backpacking in winter. I would much rather sleep outside when it’s 0 C/32 F than when it’s 24 C/75 F+ at night. Once it starts getting warm here the humidity creeps up and you’re just sticky for months. Sitting outside on my porch on winter mornings bundled up in my coat and scarf having my morning coffee is one of my favorite things. If I do this in summer I’m eaten by mosquitoes within minutes.

I’m sure whether people like summer or winter more is heavily influenced by where they live, but here summer is hot, humid, full of mosquitoes and ticks, and just generally all around miserable. Late June through early September is the worst part of the year and it’s not even close for me.

I’m so glad my company a) has a “nobody wants teams” stance and even recommends against it to our clients, and b) doesn’t give a fuck if I go idle for hours because they hired me to do a job and if it’s getting done they’re happy.

Micromanaging culture needs to die. Fire employees who don’t do the job and be done with it.

One of the greatest joys of my life is being able to take my dog out with me in public because he’s very well behaved. Not perfect, but 95% there. The last 5% is the golden excitement over people and comes out when someone excitedly fusses over him (think leaning over him squeeing excitedly and talking to him in baby voice) and he forgets his manners and jumps up trying to hug them. If people act normal, he’s completely normal, chill and well mannered. He goes with me to all sorts of places like the hardware store, craft store, the liquor store, and out to eat at various restaurants with patios. I WISH we had a culture around dogs closer to France, because I think dogs would benefit greatly from it. Instead of being left at home they could be out living lives with their humans. Unfortunately that would put greater responsibility on owners to train their pups. Instead, we just ban dogs from most places because it’s easier for the businesses to not have to put up with entitled assholes and their untrained dogs. It’s sad.

Unironically I do get mad at kids (or anyone) on my lawn in the fall when we’re trying to seed it. The rest of the year I couldn’t give a fuck, but there’s a 3 week stretch where I water the grass twice a day to get the grasslings to grow and people walking on them ruins all that effort. And before anyone comes at me for a monoculture grass lawn, we only do it because our trial of “let it do what it wants” ended in weeds taking over that die in the fall, leaving the yard all dirt, and causing massive erosion when it rained in winter. We literally had to shovel dirt out of our driveway. Our huge back yard is still a sanctuary for bugs and wildlife with native plants and such, but the front yard gets watched over like it’s in an HOA because of the headache we had when we let the weeds and native plants win.

So yeah, darn kids better stay off my lawn in late September/early October!

We still have researchers…with funding even? Huh…

My husband is German and has always found the crazy flag waving patriotism of the US odd. I never really understood his position until the last few years. Having been raised in the US, all of that seemed completely normal to me, but now I view it very differently.

Last week I was told that my dog’s trainer said I was the best client she’s ever worked with. The man that works at the front desk said he randomly asked her one day who the best client she’s worked with was and apparently with zero hesitation she said my name. I’m quite proud of that, because I worked really hard when I had my dog in training to make sure I was doing everything I could to make it, and us, successful. This trainer has worked with thousands of dogs and owners over the years so to have the distinction of being her best client is quite a pleasant surprise. I was determined to turn my crazy excitable COVID puppy into a well behaved dog I could take anywhere, and we succeeded. It was a lot of work, but worth it, and I’m proud of both the results, and the fact that apparently our trainer was impressed too. ☺️

Yeahhhh. My overnight RHR and HRV go absolutely wacky even with a single drink the night before. That’s not to say I don’t still have a drink sometimes, but watching my vitals has really made me aware of exactly how much impact it has. If I have 3-4 drinks in a night on a special occasion it will take days before my HRV and RHR return to normal, even if I don’t feel any physical effects at all. Still fun, but I’m definitely aware it’s not good for me 😂